Former Eagles TE James Casey Found His Future in Philly

“Around when I got to Philadelphia is when I settled on I wanted to coach,” Casey explained. “So I got there I was really just trying to network with people even as a player. And we just had a great group of guys, a great group of players that were just good people.”

Some of those good people like Celek, Ertz, Lane Johnson, and Nick Foles were there with Casey and went on to win a Super Bowl with the Eagles after the 2017 season. By then, Casey has already started the ascent in the coaching ranks as the tight ends coach at the University of Houston.

By 2019, Casey was brought back to the NFL by Zac Taylor, the older brother of Press Taylor, another connection Casey made in Philadelphia.

Things didn’t exactly start out great in Cincy with the Bengals winning two games pre-Joe Burrow and then four when the giant leap came this season in the form of a Super Bowl berth.

“I mean there's a whole bunch of those guys that were there on the (Eagles) Super Bowl-winning team that I played with and because they're such good guys and they do things the right way you're always rooting for those guys,” Casey said."... now finally get to be a part of it myself in a coaching aspect but to be a part of a team that's in the Super Bowl (is gratifying)."

The Bengals are staying near the UCLA campus and Casey plans to stop in to see Kelly, who is now the coach of the Bruins.

“It's great that we're at UCLA right now because where we're staying is right next to the practice fields at UCLA so I'll get a chance to go to say hello to Chip. Tell him thanks again for everything,” Casey said.

While Kelly was the headliner in Casey’s transition to coaching, the guts of the transformation were the coaches who worked closely with Casey on a day-to-day basis, then-assistant TE coach Justin Peelle and special teams coach Dave Fipp.

“Justin Peelle, that was his first year coaching and he was a big impact in kind of seeing him transition from player to coach,” Casey said. “Kind of showed me how it was possible to kind of jump in there and get going.”

These days, Peelle is in Atlanta, tutoring the dynamic Kyle Pitts.

Fipp, the long-time STC who is now in Detroit, had the biggest impact of all on Casey, who helped Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah reach career-highs in receptions (49), receiving yards (493), and touchdowns (5) in 2021.

“Probably the biggest (influence) was Dave Fipp, the special teams coach in Philadelphia when I was there,” said Casey. “Coach Fipp was just a great person, great coach, and I really loved how he kind of interacted with the players, and I would just talk to him just outside of meetings about coaching.

“… you have coaches throughout your career as a player that you really look up to and, you know, they kind of do it the way you would want to do it that kind of inspire you to want to do it. Dave Fipp was definitely one of those guys for me.”

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